"The Tree of Life" - A (rather late) Review

"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. That's the way He is. He sends flies to wounds that He should heal."

If this quote doesn't intrigue you, don't bother with Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life".

I won't try to explain this movie. Mainly because I CAN'T.  Actually, it doesn't matter what I thought of the film.  What matters is how I felt by the time it was over.  And "The Tree of Life" moved me.  By the end of the film I was devastated, moved to tears.  I was confused as hell, too.  But again, that doesn't matter.  To me, anyway.

Now, will everyone feel the same way I do about "The Tree of Life"?  Will they be as forgiving about the film's apparent lack of coherent structure, or will they be as moved by a complex story about something as simple as "A Boy and his Dad"?  Absolutely not.  It's certainly not an easy movie to love, or even like, for that matter.  To me, "The Tree of Life" isn't even a movie.  It's so much more.  

"The Tree of Life" is a 138 minute prayer to The Almighty.  Some prayers are joyful.  Some are angry.  Some question.  Some cry.  Do you have the stomach for such prayers?  I do.  And sometime soon, I'm going to have to "get my prayer on" and watch this film again.

But...not right now.  I'm all cried out.  I'm spent.  "The Tree of Life" is the Important Film I have been waiting for.  Just PLEASE don't ask me to explain why.  I can't.  And I won't.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

This week I watched the 1976 film Network . It left me speechless...not the easiest thing to do, I'll admit.

In its time, Network was considered an extremely well acted, well-written satire. Watching it now, it looks more like a documentary, unfortunately. Take a few minutes and watch this monologue from the movie, admittedly doctored up a bit, but still effective (the original movie clip without all of the bells and whistles can be found here). If you're a Fox News fan, you might want to skip the first 42 seconds, because it makes fun of Mr. Charming himself, Bill "Shut Up" O'Reilly.

If you get a free minute (or four), please watch the video. Listen to the monologue. And be sure to remember it the next time you sit down to watch the evening news, or your favorite television show. Personally, I'm too much or a couch potato to go so far as to turn off the tv for good, forever and ever amen. But I'm going do my best to watch with an open mind. We all should. We can't believe everything the boob tube tells us. Lies, spins and cover-ups abound, I don't care who says otherwise.

And no, I'm NOT just talking about Fox News, either. Liberal Media...HORSE SHIT! ALL the major networks are guilty of manipulating, hiding or sexing up the news in one way or another. Don't believe me? Take a look at this clip from The Daily Show, one of the few news sources I actually trust. Frightening, if you ask me. Which you didn't, I realize.

OK, I'm done. Not trying to preach here...just trying to share.

Thanks for reading (and watching).